Israel: It's US campaign season: The true meaning of Romney's visit

Jerusalem Post

Analysis: Back lot Israel

By HERB KEINON

07/29/2012 22:03

Romney used the Old City walls as a backdrop to his professions of empathy and sympathy for Israel; Obama used a pile of fallen rockets in Sderot.

With a setting Jerusalem sun casting shadows on the Tower of David and the walls of the Old City as his background, US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney got what he wanted Sunday before he even delivered a word of his speech – valuable Holy City campaign footage.
Romney is, of course, running for president. He is visiting Israel now because he is running for president. Everything he says now about Israel, Iran and the Middle East, as well as everything US President Barack Obama says and does now about Israel, Iran and the Middle East, must be seen within that prism.

In other words, take it all with a grain of salt: Both what Romney is saying, and what Obama is saying and doing. This does not mean that they do not mean what they say or do, only that it all must be put in the wider context of the campaign.

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=279336